Machine for treating fabrics at full width in liquid baths



March 13, 1951 J. DUNGLER MACHINE FOR TREATING FABRICS AT FULL WIDTH IN LlQUID BATHS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 51, 1946 March 13, 1951 J. DUNGLER 2,545,075 MACHINE FOR TREATING FABRICS AT FULL WIDTH IN LlQUID BATHS Filed Aug. 31, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 13, 195i PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR TREATING FABRICS AT FULL WIDTH IN LIQUID BATHS Julien-Dungler, Basel, Switzerland Application August 31, 1946, Serial No. 69 ,272 In France April 3, 1946 5 Claims.

The invention relates to a machine for the continuous treatment of pieces of fabric at full width in liquids, for instance, for the unsizing, boiling, bleaching, and mor particularly for dyeing operations. r

It is one of the objects of the invention to provide means enabling in a'simple manner, numerous movements of the fabric in one direction and in the opposite direction through a treating liquid or bath, such as they are produced in jiggers for obtaining a protracted immersion of the fabric in the bath. v

The machine, according to the invention is characterized, in principle, by the fact that it comprises means affording guidance of the fabric at fu1l width within a trough and in a spiral course with a plurality of revolutions around a central space which is left free and which has a zone of greater width than that of the fabric, so'that the inlet of-the fabric will be effected at this latter zone in which are furthermore provided guiding and direction changing means which cause the incoming fabric to start its spiral course or travel.

The machine furthermore comprises means causing the fabric to be subjected, at least once during each revolution, to a squeezing action within the bath.

' According to an embodiment of the invention, the machine comprises, in combination with the trough, an independent and removable unit which forms a support for guiding the-fabric and which,-

for this purpose, comprises. a plurality of sets of superposed horizontal guide rollers arranged in stepwise formation to each other so as to enablesaid guide rollers, and further a diagonal direc-1 tion changing roller, said-guiding support being furthermore provided with an opening through which the inlet of the fabric is effected.

. Preferably, the unitforming the fabric guidin support comprises a trestle with two side-frames having a central opening, and radial arms, between which arms the-sets of guide rollers are horizontally mounted in the manner of stays supporting beams or traversers, one of the frames furthermore carrying, externally and parallel to its face, a guide roller facing its central opening, the arrangement being such that said face of the frame is located at some distance from the corresponding wall of the trough and that said guide roller is consequently immersed in the bath liquid at the sametime as-the fabric guiding support to whichit is connected.

g The fabric guiding support is, furthermore, provided with sets of squeezing rol1e'rs,; through each ofwhich simultaneously pass the superposed convolutions of the fabric," an electric motor, and means for transmitting the drive to the control rollers'for the said sets of rollersbeing also proondary ones not stated, will moreover become 5 more clearly apparent from the ensuing descrip-' tion of an embodiment which is given merely by way of a non-limitative example and which is' diagrammatically illustrated in the accompanying 4 drawings in which:

Fig. l is a view in front elevation of the general arrangement of the machine made in accordance with the invention;

Fig.2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a view in longitudinal section of the trough with an elevational view of the fabric Within the trough'2 there is arranged a trestle or roller supporting unit comprising two vertical side-frames 3 having a central channel or open- I ing 4, the radial arms of said frames accommodating the end journals of two sets of upper and two sets of lower horizontal guide rollers 5.

zontal guide-rollers are arranged in stepwise formation to each other, so as to converge toward thecenter of vat 2. These guide-rollers 5 brace and connect together the corresponding arms of the side frames 3, a guide roller 5, parallel to the former ones, being provided near the medial horizontal plane of the opening 4.

At their upper extremities, the two frames 3 are connected together by cross bars 29 which are used to fix said frames 3 to framework l.

One of the side-frames 3 acts as a support for a roller 5 which is also horizontal, but at a right -a'ngle to the rollers 5 and which is located outside the'frame, in front of the channel or open-' ingt, and aboveithe level of the roller 5, the

The supporting unit also comprise two sets o The control rollsqueezing rollers 9l0, HI2.

ers 9- and II are retained-in the vertical direction and are mounted in bearings sup-ported by the 50 frames, rollers 9 and I] being rotated by a motor I 3- through the intermediary of gears I4, l5, l6,

In'these drawings, l denotes a framework carry The upper horizontal guide-rollers and the lower horirespectiv dimensions of the supporting unit and l1, I8. The pressure rollers Ill and [2 are movable in osition and the pressure is exerted, for instance by mounting said rollers between pivoted levers l9-l9 and 2020 respectively, which are connected to shafts 2i threaded at their upper end and each carrying a hand-wheel 22, a spring 23 providing the necessary flexibility.

The treating liquid may be heated, for instance by a steam coil 24.

The machine may be completed by a set of presser rollers 25, 26 which squeeze the fabric 21 as it comes out of the bath, which fabric may then pass, for instance, into a mechanical cloth lapping device 28 which distributes it on a trolley.

Finally it is possible to provide, at the inlet of the machine, a selvedge guiding head the function of which is to ensure a correct feeding which is necessary owing to the great length of fabric circulating inside the trough 2. This device may comprise, for instance, in accordance with a known type, two guide-heads 30 carried by sliders 3i liding on a rail 32 the adjustment of the distance between the heads being obtained by operating a hand-wheel 33 fast on the end of a spindle housed inside the rail 32 and provided with threads of opposite pitch on each of which moves a nut secured to the corresponding slider The operation of the machine will be readily understood:

The fabric 21, which is inserted in the trough between the frame 3 carrying the roller 6 and the wall of the trough, engages inside the guiding support by passing through the opening 4, passes from there on to the roller 1 round which it travels, then over the diagonal roller 8 round which it also travels and which changes its direction by 90. It then passes over the roller then successively, in a spiral course, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 5, over the various guide rollers 5. Each time the fabric travels in horizontal direction between the upper and lower guide-rollers of its spiral course, the horizontally extending fabric portions pass between the pressure rollers 9Hl and ll-l2, respectively. Finally it comes out, by passing through the squeezing rollers 252 6. V

"The trough 2 is covered by a lid 34 formed bye. metal frame covered with glass panes. Thi lid is provided, on either side, with a chain-driven mechanism 35 held by uprights 35 which enables the lid to be lifted by acting on the crank 31 operating the chain pulley 38 facing the return pulley 39.

The mechanism effecting the upward and downward movement of the trough 2 may be designed in various ways. In the embodiment shown, a cable device has been provided comprising sets of drums 40 over which the cables are trained; the crank 4i serves to operate said drums. The cable 46 is guided by rollers 44 and 45 A hand brake, which is intended to enable the downward movement of the trough to be slowed down, coniprises a lever 42 acting on a leaf spring 43 surrounding a brake drum 40a.

An emptying cock 4'! is fixed to the bottom of the trough 2. Y

It is an easy matter, despite the small number of intermediaterollers, to double or treble the number of paths. For this purpose, it is only necessary to pass the fabric over each set of intermediate rollers before passing onto the next set of rollers. H a v v I If each circuit is formed b two or three superposed layers of fabric, the time during which the 4 fabric remains in the machine may thus be doubled or trebled.

It is of course understood that, without exceeding the scope of the invention, it is possible to imagine variants and improvements of details, and also to contemplate the use of equivalent means.

It is possible, for instance, to contemplate the spiral course of the fabric, not starting from the central zone, and with convolutions moving farther and farther away therefrom, but on the contrary starting from the outside and with convolutions moving neareriand nearer to the central zone, i. e. with a reverse direction of circulation to that shown.

' Having thus described the invention, what claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1 In a machine for treating lengthy piece or fabric at full width and in a continuous manner within a bath liquid, for dyeing, unsizing, bleaching and like purposes; a framework, a vat for said bath liquid mounted on said framework, a support placed in said vat and carrying a plurality of spaced apart sets of upper horizontal guide-rollers and a plurality of spaced apart sets of lower horizontal guide-rollers, respectively,

- said upper guide-rollers and said lower guiderollers being arranged in stepwise formation with respect to each other so as to converge toward the center of said vat, a pair of squeeze-rollers positioned intermediate said upper sets of guiderollers, another pair of squeeze-rollers disposed intermediate said lower sets of guide-rollers, and

roller means within said vet for deviating incom ing fabric to said lower and then to said upper sets of guide-rollers, said lower squeeze-rollers and said upper squeeze rollers, respectively,

in at least one of said deviating roller means is disposed at a location between said squeeze-- rollers in said vat.

4. In a. machine according to claim 1, includ iilg means supportingone squeeze-roller of 99.011

' air Of Sfiid squeeze-rollers, and a 0011131331 memher operatively connected to said squeeze-roller supporting means for regulatingpressure exerted by said squeeze rollers, respectively, on said fabric portions.

5. In a machine according to claim 1, includ ing means supported by said framework and movably connecting said vat relatively to "said framework.

J'ULI'EN REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patenti UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 188,596 Cooney a....r.. Mar. 20, 137? 1,626,439 Voegeli Apr. 26, 1927 2,194,084 Gulbrandsen mm..- Mar. 19, 1940 2,366,100 Green Dec.. 26; 1945' 2,369,696 Wentz Feb. 20, i945 

